


The Sublet

by javajunkie



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Romance, Romantic Comedy, olicity - Freeform, olicity au, olicity roommates au, roommates au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26857618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/javajunkie/pseuds/javajunkie
Summary: When Felicity's boyfriend breaks up with her, she moves in with Tommy and Oliver.
Relationships: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Comments: 134
Kudos: 269





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Why yes, this is the obligatory roommates AU that I write for all of my fandoms. Hope you enjoy!

Felicity always had a particular vision for her future. By thirty, she would be married with kids, living out in a nice house in the suburbs with the white picket fence and Golden retriever. She would be established in her job. Established in life.

Nothing ever seemed to work out how she expected.

Instead of living the life she dreamed of, her boyfriend of four years had broken up with her, taking not only her heart and sense of stability, but perhaps most concerning, their apartment. She was stuck in her job. Stuck in life. And now also stuck staying with her cousin, Tommy, unless she wanted to stay with Cooper until she found a new place. Which she definitively did not.

“You can stay with me as long as you need,” Tommy had told her. “I told Oliver and he’s game. I think he said something about our bathroom finally getting cleaned.”

“I’m not cleaning your bathroom,” Felicity had returned. “But, thank you for letting me stay. I promise it won’t be long. Just until I can find another place.”

And so, that was how she ended up standing in front of her cousin’s apartment with the largest suitcase she could find. It was one that she and Cooper bought for one of their trips to Europe. It was their second anniversary. Maybe third. Either way, she never thought she would use it like this. They were supposed to have a future together and instead it was just another ending.

She knocked on the door and after a moment, Tommy’s roommate, Oliver, opened the door. He was fresh out of the shower, towel fastened at his hip. She spotted a girl in a matching towel pad out of the bathroom behind him, disappearing into his room.

“I thought Tommy said you weren’t getting here until eleven,” Oliver said.

“It is eleven.”

To prove her point, Felicity dug her phone out of her pocket and held it up for him to see. Oliver frowned slightly. He had to be at the club in an hour and he very clearly had not planned the morning well. At least he was showered. Plastering on a grin, he stepped back and said, “Well, welcome to your new apartment.”

“ _Temporary_ new apartment,” she corrected, heaving the suitcase behind her. She packed it to the point that she had to sit on it to zip, which meant it wasn’t the best at rolling anymore. Oliver watched her struggle and said, “Do you need help with that?”

“Nope, I’ve got it,” she said. “Besides…” she glanced knowingly toward his room and he looked at her in confusion before he remembered who was in there and said, “Right. Anyway, if you need anything, you know where to find me.”

Felicity smirked, imaging that his overnight guest wouldn’t be too fond of her needing anything. “Yes, I do. Thanks, Oliver.”

Felicity walked over to her new bedroom, struggling to hoist her suitcase onto the bed and then just settling for the floor, sitting cross-legged next to it as she pulled out the curated selection of items she took from hers and Cooper’s apartment. She would need to go back eventually to get the rest, but now the prospect of having to look at him for even the minimal amount of time it would take to get her stuff was out of the question. She still couldn’t believe he broke up with her. He was supposed to be the one. 

There was a knock on the door and Tommy walked in. He sat on the edge of the bed and said, “Man, I can’t believe it’s eleven already.”

“I feel like I need to get you and Oliver watches.”

“So, how are you? Did Cooper give you any problems moving out today?”

Felicity shook her head. “He offered to help, but I figured the two of you probably shouldn’t be in the same room.”

“That guy is such a dick,” Tommy said, cracking his knuckles. Felicity winced. She always hated when he did that.

“I tend to agree. Although, I do think the offer was genuine. Who knows. I guess it doesn’t really matter now, does it? Anyway, thank you again for letting me stay here.”

“It’s no problem. Do you need help unpacking?”

“No, I think I’ve got it. Thanks, though.”

“Okay.” He stood up from her bed. “Keep your plans free for tonight. We’re having a welcome party.”

“Oh, you don’t have to,” Felicity said immediately. She knew the sort of welcome parties the pair threw, and she wasn’t exactly in the mood. Her dream night would be a glass of wine and being in bed by ten.

“I know, I don’t,” Tommy returned happily. “I want to. It starts at eight, and dress to impress!”

Tommy left her room and Felicity grumbled, “Great.”

* * *

That night, Felicity put on one of the few dresses she brought with her from the old apartment and prepared herself for a night of Merlyn-Queen debauchery, which could only end with one, or more, of them in the bathroom. To her surprise, though, it was a low-key crowd with wine and charcuterie boards. When Felicity asked Tommy where the keg was, he laughed and told her, “We’re not 23 anymore.”

As he walked away, Oliver filled in, “We absolutely still have kegs at parties.”

“Thank God,” Felicity said. “There’s been enough change in my life the past month. The idea of you two actually growing up is too much.”

“Who says we haven’t grown up?”

“You’re two fully grown men living in a bachelor pad,” Felicity pointed out.

“I see your point,” Oliver relented with a slight grin. “But, Tommy wanted tonight to be something you would like. So, no keg.”

“That’s incredibly sweet.”

“Tommy has his moments. I was in charge of the charcuterie, by the way. How did I do?”

Felicity looked up at him, nodding appraisingly. “Very impressive cheese selection.”

“I really gave it my all. So much so, that I thought Whole Foods was going to escort me out for requesting too many samples.”

Felicity grinned, imaging Oliver at the cheese counter requesting sample after sample.

“Well, you did well.” There was a pause and Felicity asked, “So, where’s your girl?”

“My girl?” he asked with confusion.

“Yeah, the one from this morning? You know, matching towels?”

“Oh, she’s not here,” he said. “That wasn’t really something serious.”

Felicity nodded, thinking to herself that that was something else that hadn’t changed over the years. She knew Oliver since he and Tommy roomed together in college, and she couldn’t remember him ever having a steady relationship.

“Well, thank you for throwing me this. You and Tommy really know how to make a girl feel welcome.”

“It was our pleasure,” he said, touching her arm. A group of people she didn’t recognize came in and Oliver left her to go greet them. She held her glass of wine to her chest, looking around at the still small, but growing, crowd. She noticed then that a lot of people seemed to be paired off. Tommy was talking with a blonde who Felicity couldn’t place, but then she remembered her name, Sara. Oliver was talking to another girl, the angle of his body making his intentions clear. She missed being paired off. There was comfort in having someone who at least part of their being there was simply to be with you. A partner. 

“It looks like you need a refill,” Oliver said, suddenly beside her. 

“Where did you come from?” she stammered.

Oliver smirked and pointed to where she had seen him before. “Just right over there.” He topped off her glass. “Are you okay?”

She nodded, taking a sip of her wine. “It’s just weird. I used to do everything with _him_ and now…I guess it’s just an adjustment.”

“It’ll get better.”

She grinned slightly and said, “Does this come from your vast experience with relationships ending? Because, I think that actually requires you to have been in one.”

“Very funny,” he returned drily. “All I’m saying is that I have some experience with life adjustments. They get better.”

Felicity sobered, realizing to what he was referring. Oliver lost his father when he was in college. Even all these years later, she didn’t know many of the details, but she remembered Tommy telling her when it first happened, his face drained of color.

“Anyway, you’ll get through this,” Oliver said, knocking his elbow against hers. “Tommy and I will make sure of that.”

“You guys are like my guardian angels,” she said, tilting her head to the side. “But with superior beer pong skills.”

“I think that might be the nicest thing you’ve said about me,” Oliver said.

She grinned and raised her glass. “To things getting better.”

He clinked his glass against hers.


	2. Chapter 2

Felicity sat at her desk, mind wandering as she absentmindedly worked on strengthening her law firm’s firewall. It was an easy task, much like all the other tasks she was given. Each day was the same monotony of someone not being able to open a PDF or losing a document. When she left MIT, she had aspirations of really making a difference. Her dream had always been to work her way up to some sort of defense work, but that hadn’t happened. It turned out, government positions were hard to come by, so instead she went from one corporate in-house gig to another, which led her to her current position. The work was mind-numbing, but at least she had a good partner. The law firm hired two people to staff their IT department. She was hired first and then a few weeks later, Roger started.

“How’s the firewall going?” Roger asked.

“Fine,” Felicity said in a monotone voice. “Is it bad that I almost want someone to break through it so I would actually have something to do?”

Felicity perked at the prospect of chasing a hacker across the interwebs, and Roger intoned, “Yes, that would be bad. Definitely say that to no one but me.”

She smiled slightly and said, “It was just a joke.”

“Hey, so, I can’t help but notice that it’s the third time you’ve worn that shirt this week. Anything you want to talk about? Maybe about asking for a raise?”

Felicity frowned, looking down at her shirt. It was a striped t-shirt that she thought could be camouflaged by changing up her cardigans. Apparently not.

“I have a limited wardrobe at the moment,” Felicity said. “Cooper and I broke up.”

“Shit, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

Felicity nodded, although she could already feel tears pool in her eyes. No, this was not happening. She would not cry over that ass at work. She had cried enough. Roger noticed her uncharacteristic silence, and said, “If it makes you feel any better, I never liked him.”

“You met him once.”

“I’m trying to be supportive.”

She smiled slightly. “Thank you. Anyway, it’s better that it happened this way. I’d rather know now that it wasn’t going to work than find out further down the line. I already gave him four years.”

“That’s the spirit,” Roger said with a half-hearted pump of his fist. When Felicity gave him a strange look he said, “I’m really not good at this sort of thing.”

“Yeah, I can tell," she said, softening the statement with a smile. "But, anyway, the apartment was in his name so he is still there along with most of my stuff. I’m staying with my cousin but haven’t worked up the nerve to go back.”

“If you want company, I can go with you,” Roger offered. “My awkwardness in social situations could actually be a plus. You definitely won’t be the most uncomfortable person there.”

Felicity laughed. “That is very true, but I’m okay.” She took a deep breath. “I am thirty years old. I can go on my own.”

* * *

“You absolutely cannot go on your own,” Tommy said when he heard Felicity’s plans to go see Cooper by herself that weekend. “Oliver, tell her she can’t go on her own.”

“I’m staying out of this,” Oliver said from the kitchen table. 

“You’re too nice,” Tommy said, leaning forward emphatically as he spoke to really drive home his point. “Knowing you, you’ll end up leaving with your stuff _and_ his dry cleaning.”

“I’m not that much of a pushover,” Felicity returned stubbornly. In fact, she would argue that she wasn’t any sort of pushover.

“You kind of are with him,” Tommy said. When she glared at him, he raised his hands up and said, “Hey, don’t get pissed. We all have that person. He’s yours.”

“I would not end up taking his dry cleaning,” Felicity said, voice short and stubborn. “Cooper doesn’t even dry clean his clothes.”

Tommy looked positively affronted and said, “Then what does he do with his suits?”

“He’d put them in the wash.”

“He what?” Tommy returned loudly. “You know, this breakup might be the best thing to have ever happened to you.”

Felicity still wasn’t at that level of acceptance, so she ignored the comment and said, “I really will be fine on my own. I promise.”

* * *

That weekend, she went to her and Cooper’s old walk-up apartment, steeled to see him and put a definitive end to their relationship. On the Uber ride over she had listened to all of her angriest music in her ear pods, working herself up. And as she walked up the front steps, taking two at a time, she told herself she was ready. She would be in and out and hopefully never have to see Cooper again. But then he opened the door, and she felt herself soften. He was wearing the ratty black sweatshirt that she always loved him in. She used to wear it when he was away on business trips, his scent lingering on the fabric.

“Hi Cooper,” she said, wanting her voice to sound stronger than it did.

“Felicity hi.” He reached in and hugged her and she hesitated before wrapping her arms around him, taking in his familiar scent. He pulled away sooner than she wanted and she blinked rapidly, following him into the apartment. 

“I’m here for my stuff,” she said.

“Sure, I started boxing it,” he said. “But then I didn’t know if you’d want to do it yourself, so…”

“That’s fine. I don’t mind doing it.”

They walked past the living room and she noticed their TV was on the ground and turned toward the wall. Their old TV stand was missing, replaced by a half-assembled cherry-wood contraption. She spotted the box and recognized it as a stand they had been considering right before he broke up with her.

“I thought you didn’t like the cherry wood,” Felicity said.

He caught the direction of her gaze and said, “I changed my mind. Turns out you were right.”

“It’s funny how that works, isn’t it?" she said. “Why is it half-assembled?”

“You know how I get with projects like that,” he said. “I always needed you to help me, otherwise they took days.”

“Yeah,” she said, remembering afternoons spent assembling Ikea furniture. Everyone joked that if you could survive assembling Ikea furniture together you could survive anything, but look at them now. 

“Hey, you don’t think…” Cooper began, but then he stopped, shaking his head. “Never mind.”

“What is it?”

“I just thought since you’re here…maybe we could finish it together?”

Felicity swallowed hard, knowing that she should say no, but her head dipped up and down of its own accord.

“Sure,” she heard herself say. “We can finish it together.”

* * *

“You built a TV stand together?” Tommy said loudly. “Are you kidding me? A TV STAND?”

“I panicked!” Felicity threw back. “He asked me and then he was looking at me that way he always looks at me.”

“With his eyes?” Tommy said incredulously.

“Not just with his eyes,” she said irritably. “It was the _look_. The one he always had just for me, and I couldn’t say no.”

“This is why you should have never gone there alone,” Tommy said. “And now, you were there and you didn’t even get your stuff!”

“I have some of my stuff,” she said weakly. 

After they finished building the TV stand, it was dinnertime and it only was natural to get dinner after all of the physical activity. After dinner, it seemed too late to pack up the rest of her stuff, so she only brought back what had already been packed, which unfortunately did not include any clothes.

“You cannot go back there again on your own,” Tommy said.

“I’ll be fine,” Felicity said. “It’s not like he’ll have another TV stand to build.”

“I wouldn’t put it past that bastard to have a half-finished project every time you get there. Because, apparently, you’re free manual labor.”

She shot him a look and Oliver said, “Tommy’s right.”

“I’m sorry?” she said.

“Not about you being free manual labor,” Oliver said quickly. “But about you not going there by yourself again. You need reinforcements.”

“I think you’re all taking this way too seriously. I’m fine.” She walked to the kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the refrigerator. Slowly she said, “And besides, maybe he asked me help him with that TV stand because-“

“Okay, not letting you finish that,” Tommy said. “He is not trying to get you back. Cooper doesn’t have the balls to actually try that. What he is doing is taking advantage of the fact that you’re still in love with him.”

Felicity knew that he was right, but she didn’t want to believe him. For all the pain Cooper had put her through, a part of her still wanted to believe that it could all turn out okay. That she could have the future she wanted. But, the difficult truth was that the future she envisioned was no longer an option. And she was running out of fresh underwear.

“We’ll go back tomorrow,” Felicity relented. 

* * *

Tommy and Oliver drove with her to her old apartment, Oliver at the wheel of the SUV while Tommy and Felicity argued over him going up with her. Felicity insisted Tommy stay in the car, telling him, “I don’t trust you to behave.”

“I’m a grown man. I can control myself.”

“You sure about that?” she countered. 

“Besides, I’m your emotional support,” he said.

“Yes, and you can be my emotional support from the car.”

Oliver parked in front of the building and put on the blinkers. He unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car, opening the door for Felicity as he said, “Tommy, why don’t you sit up front so that we don’t get towed.”

Tommy sighed, getting out of the car. “Fine. But, if you guys aren’t back out here in ten minutes I’m coming up.”

For some reason, Felicity felt more nervous taking the stairs up to the apartment with Oliver. She knew the effect Cooper had on her and she didn’t like there being an audience. They reached the doorway and Felicity knocked. The door opened swiftly and Cooper grinned wide at her, the grin dimming slightly when his gaze moved upward to Oliver.

Oliver never liked Cooper, but he tolerated him while he was dating Felicity. Now, he took great pleasure in being able to ignore the pleasantries and directly said, “We’re here for the rest of Felicity’s stuff.”

“It’s just the boxes in the bedroom,” Felicity said.

Cooper nodded, stepping back. “Yeah, sure. Come on in.”

Felicity walked quickly through the apartment, purposely avoiding looking at the TV stand that she had spent a good part of her Saturday building. Oliver followed, his presence actually serving as a comfort, and they each grabbed a box. She started to turn when she noticed something in the bathroom. Sitting on the vanity was an electric tooth brush. She recognized the setup from a Brookstone catalogue she’d been looking through earlier in the week, and the model was at least 100 dollars. 

In any other apartment, an electric tooth brush wouldn’t have been a big deal. But, Cooper had always railed against what he termed “unnecessary technological bullshit”, which meant the tooth brush wasn’t his. And, you didn’t just leave a 100 dollar tooth brush at a random hookup’s apartment. Which must have meant-

She dropped her box loudly.

“Felicity?” Oliver said warily, not quite understanding what was happening.

“How long?” she said, advancing on Cooper. “How long were you fucking someone else? Huh? How long?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Cooper said quickly.

“The tooth brush, Cooper! I saw the tooth brush, and don’t even try to say it’s yours!”

Cooper pause before admitting, “Three months. It was three months.”

“You son of a bitch,” Felicity said, anger flaring. All this time, she had been mourning the loss of their relationship, when he had already ruined it. She wondered then how it started. Had she been here when they were together? Did he cheat on her in their own bed? She suddenly wanted nothing to do with him and for him to have nothing of her. And then she remembered the TV stand.

She tore out of the room, both men following her and Cooper loudly going, “What the hell are you doing?” as she hoisted the TV off the stand and dropped it on the floor.

“This was _my_ dream TV stand,” she said, breathing heavily as she lifted the stand and began to move unsteadily toward the door. 

"You can't just take my TV stand!" Cooper said.

"Wanna bet?"

She nearly dropped it and Oliver surged forward, taking an edge.

“You sure about this?” he asked.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

And so together, they heaved the TV stand down the front steps of the walk-up, Tommy watching with confusion from the car. When they got the stand into the back seat of the car, Felicity was breathing hard from the effort, and she told Tommy, “You can go back in with Oliver to get the last boxes.”

“Wait, really?” he asked excitedly.

Felicity nodded, leaning heavily against the car. A few minutes later, both of the men returned and all of her boxes were recovered. Tommy hopped into the driver’s seat and since seating was limited due to the TV stand, Felicity sat on Oliver’s lap, craning her neck to watch her old home – and life – disappear into the distance. 

“Are you okay?” Oliver asked.

She glanced back at him and nodded. “Yeah. I actually am.”

He gave her leg a squeeze and she smiled slightly, glancing out the window and watching the scenery pass by. 


	3. Chapter 3

There were few things that Felicity disliked more than puking. She kneeled in front of what had become a very familiar acquaintance during the day and retched out the two saltines she dared eat ten minutes ago. Oliver stood in the doorway and said, “I really think I should stay.”

“No,” she said, planting her hand up on the counter and shakily rising to her feet. “I’m fine. Go on your date.”

The image that greeted her in the bathroom mirror was enough to fill her nightmares for the rest of eternity. She was in a pair of her flannel pajamas dotted with sushi, a heavy wool cardigan of Tommy’s thrown over her shoulders to ward off her feverish chills. Her hair was piled up into a messy bun on the top of her head, some of the shorter layers sticking up at odd angles. In short, she was a vision of horror. And behind her, Oliver stood in the doorway looking his normal levels of GQ.

“I would really like it if you weren’t here right now,” Felicity said. 

“I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t here you wouldn’t be able to make it back to the couch.”

“That is a gross overstatement,” Felicity said, although she didn’t object when he took her elbow and helped her back over to the couch. Felicity stretched out on the couch, laying her hand along her pounding head in hopes of it, well, pounding _less_. It wasn’t working. But, she didn’t need Oliver to hover around worrying about her, which was what he had done for the past six or seven hours.

“I’ll be fine,” Felicity said. “All I do is sit and puke. I can do that without a babysitter.”

“I’m not saying you need a babysitter,” Oliver said. “But, I am pretty sure that Tommy will kill me if you end up in the hospital when he’s out of town.”

“I don’t need a hospital. I have the flu. Now, go on your date.”

“Felicity-“

“Now,” she said. “I promise, I will still be here when you get back.”

Oliver went into the kitchen and brought her out a sleeve of saltines and gallon of Gatorade.

“At least try to get these down, okay?”

“Ay ay, Captain,” Felicity said weakly with a small salute. “Can you please leave now?”

He sighed. “Fine. Try not to puke on the couch?”

“I make no promises.”

* * *

After Oliver left, Felicity used what was left of her energy to grab the TV changer from the coffee table, clicking into Netflix and settling in for a night of _The West Wing_. Felicity was half-asleep on the couch when Oliver came back into the apartment, shutting the door quietly behind him. He had done fairly well, not waking Felicity, until he tripped on a pair of her shoes by the door, catching his fall with a very loud slam of his hand onto the coat rack.

Felicity sat up shakily, peering over the edge of the couch. “Oh good, we’re not being burglarized. It’s just you.”

Oliver walked over and asked, “Have you moved at all from this couch since I’ve been gone?”

“I had to reach for the TV remote on the coffee table. Does that count?”

“No, it doesn’t. At least you haven’t gotten sick again. It’s good you’re keeping stuff down.” Oliver noticed then the untouched Gatorade and saltines. “Please tell me you’ve eaten something else since I’ve been gone.”

“No, see, I’m outsmarting the flu,” Felicity said. “If I don’t eat then I can’t puke.”

“That’s not a thing. You need to eat something.” He picked up the sleeve of saltines and pulled out a single cracker, holding it toward her. 

“No,” she said stubbornly.

“Felicity.”

“Don’t you have better things to do than try to feed me crackers?”

“Right now, no. So, open your mouth and eat the cracker.”

She glared at him. “I don’t want a cracker. My stomach feels like it’s eating itself.”

“Yeah. That’s because you haven’t eaten anything in hours.”

“I don’t want a cracker,” Felicity repeated, her eyes getting watery. She was just so tired and she really, really didn’t want to puke again. 

Oliver sat on the edge of the couch, hand circling her ankle. “What do you want then? I can make you something.”

That made Felicity want to cry even more, because she knew Oliver couldn’t cook.

“Okay, wait here. I know just the thing,” Oliver said.

Felicity weakly tried to tell him that she would just eat the crackers, but he was already up and over in the kitchen. She vaguely heard the refrigerator open and then something that sounded like the toaster. After a few more dings and clatters, Oliver returned with what Felicity could only describe as toast with brown-stuff.

“What is that?” she asked darkly.

“This is what my mom used to make me when I was sick growing up. It’s toast with mashed banana.”

“Why is the banana brown?”

“It’s a little over-ripe,” Oliver admitted. “But, I promise it’ll make you feel better.”

Felicity took a deep breath and then forced the beige concoction up to her mouth, taking an experimental bite. Felicity didn’t know if it was her flu or Oliver’s cooking, but either way, the thing was revolting.

“It’s good, huh?” Oliver said.

She swallowed with effort and said, “Oliver, no offense, but this is terrible.”

“What?”

“Trust me. It’s not good. Like, if I wasn’t already puking, this would do the trick.”

“You can’t be serious,” he said.

“Try it yourself, buddy.”

Oliver picked up the piece of toast and took a bite from the opposite side Felicity did. After a few chews, Oliver’s face screwed up into a frown and he said, “This is _really_ bad. Why do I not remember this being so bad?”

“Probably your weakened state?” she offered. 

“My mom gave me this all the time.”

“I’m sure Moira Queen has redeeming qualities. That banana-toast? Not one of them.”

Oliver stood up again and said, “I think we have some canned chicken noodle soup in the pantry. Hold on.”

After a few minutes, he came back with a steaming mug of soup and she sat up shakily to eat it, Oliver reaching forward and adjusting the pillow behind her back. The soup was much better, but her beleaguered stomach still voiced its protest, gurgling with each spoonful of soup. However, it adjusted to the new intake of food and she began to feel marginally better.

About halfway through the mug, Oliver took it from her and said, “That’s probably enough for now. You don’t want to overdo it.”

Felicity nodded, settling back into the couch. She looked back over at him and said, “I really hope you didn’t cut your date short to play doctor with me.” 

It was a testament to her flu that Felicity didn’t even attempt to correct the double entendre.

“I didn’t have to cut it short,” Oliver said, noticing her eyes begin to dart around. “Hey, are you-“

“Oh no,” she said, scrambling up off the couch. Her legs were wobbly and she would have careened into the coffee table if Oliver hadn’t grabbed her waist to steady her. The objective was getting to the bathroom, but before she could get there, the soup came up and she grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be Oliver’s motorcycle helmet.

“I’m really sorry,” she stammered afterwards.

“It’s fine,” Oliver said, thinking that that helmet would be going straight into the trash now. 

He helped her to the bathroom where she washed her mouth out and then back to the couch, where she curled into a ball, murmuring, “I really would like to stop puking now.”

“Maybe you were right about the no eating.”

“Told you,” she mumbled, stretching her legs out and poking his leg with her feet. Without a second thought, he gathered her feet up and put them on his lap. He saw that she was beginning to drift off to sleep, and he said, “Do you want to go to your room?”

She shook her head, burrowing further into the couch. Oliver stayed with her, absentmindedly dragging his thumb along the hollow of her ankle as she drifted off to sleep. 

* * *

Felicity woke up in the middle of the night, feeling better than she had in hours. Her stomach growled and she sat up, surprised to see Oliver next to her. She assumed he would have gone to his own room at some point in the night, but he was still next to her with her feet propped in his lap. She gently pulled her heels toward her, turning around to slip a few saltines out of the plastic sleeve. She chewed as quietly as she could, but he stirred, stretching as he said, “Hey, you’re eating something.”

“I want to write sonnets for this saltine it’s so good. You want one?”

He shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

As they munched on their saltines, Felicity look over at him and joked, “You know, this might be the best sleepover I’ve ever been to.”

Oliver laughed. “You seem better.”

“I feel better,” Felicity said. She knocked her shoulder against his. “Thank you for taking such good care of me.”

“It was my pleasure.”

“Hey, I never asked how your date was,” Felicity said.

“It was fine,” Oliver said off-handedly, taking another saltine and popping it into his mouth.

“So, are Tommy and me going to get to meet her? Because, just so you know, we get final veto power.”

He smirked. “Is that so?”

“Yes. It’s the unwritten rules of roommates.”

“I’m learning so much during this conversation,” he said with a grin. “But, um, no I don’t think you guys will be meeting her. I don’t see us having much of a future.”

Felicity nodded. “Well, maybe the next one.”

“Sure,” Oliver echoed. “The next one.”


	4. Chapter 4

Felicity sat at her desk, staring listlessly ahead with one elbow propped up on the desk, her chin in her upturned palm. She hadn’t slept well again last night. It was just about the same as every other night that week. She fell asleep without any problem but then she was up, like clockwork, somewhere between 2 and 3 in the morning, staring up at the ceiling as she wondered how many more times she would wake up before her alarm went off. Last night, it had only been two in total. Better than the night before, but still not exactly restful. It had taken an inordinate amount of willpower to pull herself from her bed in the morning, and even more to make herself look somewhere in the vicinity of presentable. 

Her thoughts were interrupted by Roger placing a donut in front of her.

“You look like you need this,” Roger said.

“Thank you,” Felicity said, looking at the perfectly frosted donut and feeling nothing. 

Roger sat down at his desk, and after a few minutes, he glanced back at her and said, “You know, you can talk to me about whatever is going on. And, don’t try to tell me everything is fine. You haven’t touched the donut and I know for a fact it’s your favorite.”

“It is,” she echoed, gently prodding the sugary confection with her finger. “I haven’t been sleeping a lot lately. And when I haven’t been sleeping, I’ve been thinking. I’ve been thinking a lot, actually.”

“About what?”

“I’m not happy,” she said. “I haven’t been for a while. At first, I thought it was just all the stuff with Cooper, but now I’m not so sure. It’s been months now since everything with Coop happened, and I still feel…off.”

“You went through a pretty big life transition,” Roger said. “I think it’s totally natural for that to knock you off center a bit.”

“No, I don’t think it’s that. My entire life just feels stuck,” she said, looking back down at the donut. After a pause, she turned her gaze to him and said, “Do you know the definition of insanity?”

Roger narrowed his eyes and said, “Do I need to take you to a hospital?”

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I had this plan for my life and I followed it to the letter, and look where it got me? Something needs to change.”

Roger nodded slowly and asked, “Are we talking like a big change or dying your hair?”

“From now on, I’m going to do the opposite of what I’ve always done,” Felicity said. “Whatever I did. Whatever my _instinct_ is, I’m going the other way.”

“Okay, sure,” Roger said, trying to sound supportive. “There’s definitely no way this could go horribly wrong.”

Her email pinged with a new message from her boss. It was about one of the security protocols they were working on that he wanted completed by end of month that was virtually impossible, but she always humored him. Not anymore.

“Change starts now, Roger,” she said, diligently typing away on her computer. Roger walked over to see what she was working on and he said, “Felicity, you can’t send that. You know how Nick works. You can’t be this direct with him.”

“Well, I am,” Felicity said, adding on some criticisms of the project that she previously kept to herself out of concern for her job. She gave the email a quick proofread and then hit send.

“You do realize you just ripped apart what he considers the _Mona Lisa_ of his career, right?”

“All of my criticism was valid.”

“You are going to get yourself fired,” Roger said, shaking his head. “And then I’m going to have to get used to another office mate, and you know how long that takes me.”

“Maybe some change would be good for both of us,” Felicity said, giving his arm a pat. She felt more exhilarated than she had in weeks and she reached forward and picked up the donut, taking a large bite. 

* * *

Throughout the week, Felicity continued to buck her own traditions, and felt increasingly lighter as she shed the preconceived notions and self-spun rules that had previously weighed her down. She didn’t need to waste away 40-plus hours a week at a job she hated. She didn’t need to lie to Tommy whenever he asked her if his pants were too tight.

“Yes, they are,” she told him one afternoon when he asked.

Tommy had given her a sort of wounded expression and said, “I think I liked the old you better.”

And, maybe she didn’t need to be so focused on finding a partner. It was what she thought she wanted for most of her twenties, and when she found Cooper, it felt somewhat like a self-fulfilling prophecy. He was what she was searching for, and with him, she was complete. But, everyone knew how that turned out.

Felicity had always had a relatively firm stance against meaningless hookups, but in the spirit of her new opposite-lease-on-life, she decided to re-evaluate. Hooking up seemed to work for everyone else. Tommy and Oliver did it and, as far as she could tell, they were happy. And so, one afternoon, she approached Tommy during breakfast and said, “I need your help.”

“Sure, what’s going?”

“I need you to teach me how to have a one-night stand.”

Tommy grimaced and said, “Can we not talk about your sex life while I’m eating?”

“Come on, Tommy, after Cooper I just really need something different. But, I’ve never really done this sort of thing before, so I need help.”

“Is this part of your weird opposite thing?”

“It’s not weird,” Felicity said defensively. “It’s personal growth.”

“Sure, whatever. But Felicity, I say this with love, you’re not a hookup person.”

“What do you mean I’m not a hookup person?” she asked, not knowing whether to be offended or not by the statement. 

“You get attached too easily,” Tommy said. “And that is the opposite of a hookup. You can’t get attached, otherwise it won’t work.”

“I won’t get attached,” Felicity said. “I promise. No attachments. Zero.”

“Yeah, you just saying that repeatedly won’t make it true.”

“Tommy, I ask you for very little-“

“Except moving in here,” he reminded her.

Felicity frowned and said, “Okay, _besides_ moving in here –“ Tommy smirked, “ – I ask you for very little. And now, all I’m asking is for you to just give a little cousinly advice.”

“You do realize it’s weird to help your cousin get laid.”

“Not true,” she said. “Senior year, I helped set you and Haley Perkins up at prom.”

“Haley Perkins,” Tommy said wistfully. “She was super hot.”

“So, just consider this like helping me with _my_ Haley Perkins. Except, you know, not Haley Perkins. Because she’s a _she_ and I like men, and…” she shook her head, “…anyway, I’m getting off track. Will you just please help me?”

“Fine,” Tommy said. “But, you have to actually listen to what I say.”

“Yes, yes, you are the Jedi master and I am the padawan. I get it.”

Tommy stared at her and said, “Yeah, lesson number one, don’t say that.”

* * *

That night, the roommates went to a bar and Tommy explained to Felicity the rules for how to have a proper one night stand. 

“It’s not about feelings. It’s base attraction. So, no getting to know them. No questions about their family or where they’re from. It’s not about that.”

“Okay. No getting to know them,” Felicity repeated. “I can do that. I can not get to know someone.”

“Are you sure?” Oliver asked skeptically. “Because by the time we left our Uber, you knew the name of the driver’s three children.”

“I can do it,” she repeated steadfastly.

Oliver wasn’t convinced, and if he were being completely honestly, he didn’t get why they were doing this at all. He wasn’t against random hookups, but he was pretty sure they weren’t something that aligned with the woman he had gotten to know better over the past few months. But, maybe that was the point based on all of her “opposite” overtures. Still, it made him uneasy to hear Tommy coach her on how to be more like, well, _them_.

“Now, the key to all of this is not overthinking it,” Tommy said. “Which, I know will be a challenge for you.”

“You’re not entirely wrong,” Felicity admitted. “Okay, not overthinking. I’m not…” she trailed off when she saw a guy watching her from the bar. He was conventionally attractive with a strong jaw and swoop of black hair. And, based off everything Tommy said, that seemed like enough. “Hello, sailor.”

“Okay, you got the first weird comment out of your system,” Tommy said, clapping his hand on her shoulder. “Go get him, Felicity.”

She flashed him a grin before heading over to the guy at the bar. Oliver took a pull of his beer and said,” Do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Maybe it’ll do her some good to loosen up a little,” Tommy said with a shrug. “Besides, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“He could be a serial killer.”

“Girls go home with us from bars and we’re not serial killers,” Tommy pointed out.

“Yeah, but we’re us. He’s…”

“A completely normal guy in a bar,” Tommy said. “Lighten up. You’re starting to sound like the old Felicity.”

“Aren’t you the least bit concerned about how she’s been acting this last week? The whole opposite thing?”

“A bit,” Tommy admitted. “But, whatever’s going on, she’ll get through it. She always does. And in the meantime, I don’t think it’s that bad for her to live a little. She was carrying around that deadbeat Cooper for four years. Let her have a little fun.”

* * *

The guy at the bar’s name was Eric and he was surprisingly funny and didn’t make a single comment when she ordered rosé wine with ice cubes. They talked close, his hand first on the back of her chair and then on her back, inching lower. Maybe it was the wine, or the dimple in his left cheek when he smiled, but she felt herself pulled closer to him as the night went on. He asked her back to his apartment and she didn’t hesitate before saying yes. They kissed in the cab on the way back to his apartment and then they were in his bedroom, her attention momentarily pulled by a remarkably ugly painting on his wall, but then his mouth was on her neck, hands exploring up under her skirt and she stopped thinking all together.

When they were finished she stared up at his ceiling, thinking that she had done it. She did the meaningless hookup, and then he turned toward her, propping his head up on his hand, and murmured, “There are usually cabs out front if you don’t want to order an Uber.”

With those words, she felt gutted. Felicity didn’t know what she expected with meaningless sex, but it wasn’t to be essentially kicked out immediately after. She nodded quickly, holding the blanket to her chest as she furtively looked for where she had tossed various pieces of clothing only a small while earlier. With the key pieces located, she looked back at him and said, “Do you mind…”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, not sharing the same qualms with nudity as he got out of bed, all of him swaying in the wind, so to speak, as he went into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Felicity quickly hopped out of his bed and pulled on her clothes, not even waiting for him to come out of the bathroom before she hurried out of the apartment. True to his word, there were cabs out front, and she gave the driver her address, staring blankly out the window as he drove her home. When they stopped in front of her apartment, she gave him a good tip, hoping the goodwill would make its way back to her someday, and she went into her building, the catch in her throat growing as the elevator went up.

She opened the door and Oliver looked up from the couch, his expression darkening the moment he saw the look on her face, and he was immediately up and asked, “What happened?”

She didn’t want to cry, but that didn’t matter as her shoulders began to shake. She covered her face, not wanting him to see. Logically, she knew she could go to her room but she was rooted in place, unable to unstick herself both from where she was standing and the burrowing emptiness that filled her. Hands suddenly covered her arms and she was steered toward the living room and to the couch.

“Tell me what happened,” Oliver said softly, already imaging about five different ways to hurt that dumb guy from the bar.

“I got exactly what I wanted,” Felicity said, confusing him. “And I feel used. Which, I wasn’t. If anything, I used him. I knew exactly what I was doing. But, I don’t feel better. All I feel is this emptiness, and, no matter what I do, it keeps coming back.” She looked away, wiping at her eyes. “I had a plan. I knew exactly what my life was going to look like, and now, how is _this_ my life? I’m 30 living with my cousin and his roommate? I'm in a job I hate. This isn’t where I was supposed to be.” 

“But it is,” Oliver said. “This is your life. And yeah, it sucks that you ended up so far away from what you wanted, but changing everything about yourself isn’t going to fix it.”

“You know, if this is your idea of a pep talk, it sucks,” she said dully.

Oliver took a beat to regroup and emphatically continued with, “Your life didn’t go off course because of you. You are not the problem. You never were. So, why would you try to fix it by changing anything about yourself?”

Felicity hadn’t thought about it that way before, but she had to admit, it made a lot of sense. She hadn’t made Cooper cheat on her. She knew she had been a good girlfriend. She loved hard and liberally, and she couldn’t control what he did any more than she could control the traffic on her way to work or the weather. 

"And I can help you look for other jobs," Oliver said. "I know some people who are hiring. I'm sure any of then would be lucky to have you." 

“That was a better pep talk,” Felicity said, sniffling. She hesitated before leaning forward and hugging him, her chin resting on his shoulder. “And thank you.”

“Anytime,” he said, his hand running up and down her back in a manner that he hoped was comforting. They hadn’t been this close before, and he could smell the light floral notes of her shampoo. He didn’t move away, figuring that he would let her take as much time as she needed, and she didn’t seem too intent on putting space between them. He had read something about the calming effects of a hug and how the two people could synch their heartbeats. He could feel her relaxing. Her breath steadying and matching his own.

“If it’s any consolation, I’m glad you’re here,” Oliver said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

It was at that moment, Tommy came into the apartment, stopping short as he said, “This better not be your hookup, Felicity.”

“It’s not,” she said, pulling away from Oliver. She felt momentarily cold and she noticed Oliver rub at his arm. “It was just a hug. Because I needed one.”

“Oh no, it didn’t go well?” Tommy said.

“It went fine,” Felicity said. “I just don’t think hookups are for me. I’ve realized that maybe trying so hard to change myself wasn’t a good idea.”

“Does this mean we’re done with the opposites thing?” Tommy said hopefully.

“Yes, it does.”

“So, what are you doing back here?” Oliver asked Tommy. “I thought you went home with that girl.”

“Oh, I did,” Tommy said. “And then she kicked me out right after, making up some clear story about having a dentist’s appointment in the morning. I think I’m in love.”

Felicity smirked. “I’m happy for you, Tommy.”

“Anyway, I’m hitting the hay. It was a very acrobatic evening.”

“Oh sure,” Felicity murmured as Oliver said, “We did not need to know that.”


	5. Chapter 5

Oliver walked into the apartment, looking through the mail as he off-handedly said, “We’re getting mail for 14G again. You know, I get that opening up another person’s mail is a federal offense, but some of these letters have been pretty intriguing.”

He looked up just in time for Felicity to walk over and wrap her arms around his neck, giving him a quick kiss. 

He stared down at her with confusion. “Hello?”

_**ONE DAY EARLIER**_

“So, my best friend growing up is visiting tomorrow from Houston,” Felicity said. “She has a work conference and is coming here on her time off. So, I need you both on your best behavior. And by both, I mostly mean you, Tommy.”

“Why am I being singled out?”

“Because every time Heather comes to visit, you try to hit on her.”

“Um, pretty sure the hitting on was mutual,” Tommy said. 

“It wasn’t. She’s engaged now, so, keep it in line.”

“I don’t know, they’re not married yet. Just because there’s a goalie doesn’t mean you can’t score,” Oliver offered.

Felicity hit him on the arm and said, “You are not helping.”

“I’m just kidding!”

“There is no time for your humor. I really want this visit to be perfect, so, best behavior. And can we clear out all those old DVDs in the living room?”

“You can’t mess with my DVD collection,” Tommy said immediately.

“You really can’t,” Oliver echoed. “His DVD collection is legendary.”

“They’re so bulky, though. Not to mention you can stream almost all of them.”

“They’re staying,” Tommy said definitively.

“Fine,” she sighed. “But maybe we can move them behind the TV? I just feel like it looks cluttered, and that clutter creates an energy that I really don’t want.”

“We can move them behind the TV,” Tommy relented. “But, I’ll do it. I don’t want you messing up the order.”

“Perfect. Okay, I’m going to make sure everything else is in order.”

Felicity hurried off to her room, and Oliver said, “Is it just me or is she being sort of weird about this?”

“You’re not wrong. They have an odd friendship. Even when we were kids, it was like Felicity was always trying to prove herself with Heather.” He shrugged. “Anyway, female friendships are weird.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

* * *

The next day, the DVD collection was carefully stashed behind the television, and Heather Hapner graced the loft with her presence, making a sort of sweeping gesture as she said, “This place is so utilitarian. It’s very interesting.”

Felicity wouldn’t have exactly considered the term utilitarian as positive when it came to home design, but she took it in stride, saying, “Most of the décor is Tommy and Oliver, but I’ve added some touches since I’ve been here.”

“Yes, I can tell,” Heather said, pointing to the vase of fresh flowers on the table. “I think it’s so cute that you still like carnations. It’s like you haven’t changed a bit since we were kids.”

“I think they’re cheerful.”

“I know you do,” Heather said, squeezing her arm. “And they are. They are the _most_ cheerful.”

Heather walked around the room, taking stock of all the different odds and ends, and she stopped at the fireplace, picking up one of the framed photos. It was of her and Felicity from when they were kids. 

“Will you look at us,” Heather said. “And look at your hair.”

The high blonde ponytail matched what she currently wore, and she said, “When I commit, I really commit.”

“Yes, you do. Speaking of commitment, how are you doing after all the Cooper stuff?”

“I’m doing good,” she said. “Everything’s great.”

“You’re still not dating anyone yet, right?”

Felicity shook her head. “It’s just me for now.”

Heather responded with a pitying look and she patted her on the arm as she said, “Well, I’m sure your time will come. But don’t wait too long. All the good ones are being taken.”

“Good to know,” Felicity said.

“Oh, I didn’t mean that in a bad way,” Heather said quickly. “It’s just, you’re not exactly young anymore. I mean, goodness, some people are already married and divorced by 30.”

“I’m only one year older than you,” Felicity said slowly. “And 30 isn’t that old.”

“No, but it’s not exactly young, is it?” Heather said. “I mean, you’re three decades in.”

Felicity blinked rapidly. “Sure. Anyway, are you ready for lunch?”

“Yes! I just need to use the restroom. That’ll give us both a chance to freshen up before lunch.”

Heather headed off to the bathroom and Felicity stood in the living room, wondering what exactly was left, of her, to be freshened.

* * *

After lunch, which was spent predominately talking about wedding planning, conversation turned back to Felicity’s current state of dating. Heather mentioned a few people that she knew in the area with whom she could set Felicity up, and with each new offer, Felicity felt more like the neighborhood charity case. Finally, after mention of a pediatric surgeon one town over, Felicity blurted out, “I’m actually seeing someone.”

“You are?” Heather asked with surprise. “But, you said you weren’t before.” 

“I just didn’t want to take away from the engagement excitement,” Felicity said quickly, working up the lie as she went. “But, yes, I’m seeing someone and we’re very happy.”

“Well, tell me about him! Who is he?”

In a perfect world, Felicity would have made up an actual fake boyfriend, as in someone that it would have been virtually impossible for Heather to run into at the apartment. Instead, she said it was Oliver.

“Your roommate?”  
“Yep, my roommate,” Felicity said, praying he would stay wherever he had gone until Heather left so that she wouldn’t be caught in her lie. However, her prayers were too late as the front door opened and Oliver walked in, going on about them getting the mail from 14G again. Felicity was stuck. She couldn’t admit to Heather that she lied, but she also knew her friend was about to question her roommate about their newfound romance, so before things could get even worse, Felicity walked over to Oliver swiftly and kissed him.

“Hello?” he said, looking down at her with confusion.

“The secret’s out,” she said, giving his arm a tight squeeze. “Heather knows that we’re dating.”

“We’re dating,” he repeated, watching her very deliberate nodding at that statement. Quickly, he said, “Yes, we’re dating. Of course. That’s great.”

“I have to say,” Heather said. “You two have a very good energy between you. I can see it. You know, I read auras and yours are very compatible.”

“Well, would you listen to that,” Felicity said, jumping when Oliver slid his arm around her waist. “We have compatible auras.”

“So, how did this happen?” Heather asked. “I love hearing these sort of stories.”

“Oh, well, it’s definitely a story,” Felicity said. She looked over at Oliver and said, “It…”

“Oh no, you take this one,” he said. “You tell it so much better than me.”

She looked back at Heather. “Well, you know that I moved in here after everything that happened with Coop. And, well, over the weeks Oliver and I grew closer. A lot of late night talks. And, you know…other things. And then, one night, bam!”

“Bam, indeed,” Oliver echoed and Felicity had a very strong urge to elbow him.

“And, that’s how it happened!”

The front door opened again and Tommy walked in, giving Oliver and Felicity a weird look as he said, “Why the hell are you guys standing like that?”

“We always are like this,” Felicity said quickly.

“What are you talking about? No, you aren’t.” He spotted their guest on the couch, and he said, “Oh, hey there, Heather. Congrats on your engagement.”

“Thank you, Tommy,” Heather said, beginning to eye Oliver and Felicity warily. “So, Felicity, Oliver, when did you two start dating?”

Tommy snorted, back turned to the group as he put away some leftovers into the refrigerator, and he said, “You’re way off base with that one, Heather. Right…” he turned around, seeing the trio of uncomfortable faces, “…guys?”

“I think we should go to our rooms now, Tommy,” Oliver said, removing his arm from Felicity’s waist. Tommy nodded, swiftly following him.

“You lied to me about you and Oliver dating?” Heather asked. “Why would you do that?”

“I don’t know,” Felicity said. “It just felt so pathetic when you were thinking up all those guys for me, and then I thought, is that how you see me?”

“Of course, I don’t,” Heather said. 

“If I’m being honest, I think for most of my life I’ve been trying to prove myself to you in one way or another and I don’t really know why. I guess I just wanted to be _someone_ , in your eyes. That probably sounds dumb.” 

“Do you know how I see you, Felicity? I see you as this incredibly strong and brave woman, with or without a man, and I’m really sorry if I ever made you feel otherwise.”

Felicity nodded, feeling tears pressing at the back of her eyes. “I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“It’s okay.” She lowered her voice and added, “But, for what it’s worth, you and Oliver really do have a good energy.”

Felicity laughed slightly. “We’re good friends.”

“It wasn’t that sort of energy.”

Felicity felt a sort of weird prickling sensation in her chest at that, but she put it to one side, and said, “Anyway, I’m sorry again for lying. But, I really am happy for now on my own. Those two guys hiding in their rooms right now take pretty good care of me.”

“I can tell.” Heather looked down at her watch and said, “I should probably go back to my hotel to get some work done, but do you think we can squeeze in a breakfast tomorrow before my flight?”

Felicity nodded. “I would really like that.”

* * *

That night, Felicity sat on the couch with Tommy and Oliver while the former went on with, “Today was such an eventful today. Heather and my star-crossed love has finally ended-“

“You never had a star-crossed love,” Felicity intoned.

“- and you and Oliver were in a relationship for all of five minutes, where you two had just about the chemistry of a poorly cast CW show.”

“Heather said we had a good energy,” Oliver said.

“And that our auras were compatible,” Felicity added. 

Tommy continued with, “And to end the day-“

“Can you narrate all of our days like this?” Felicity interrupted. “And maybe add accents?”

“I second the accents,” Oliver said. “He actually does a pretty decedent Australian one.”

“Can you guys be quiet for a second?” Tommy said.

“Sorry, Tommy, go on,” Felicity said, laughing as Oliver poked her leg.

“Thank you,” Tommy said, taking a dramatic pause. “And to end the day, we gather together again, slightly wine-drunk, and eager to see what the next day will bring.”

“Brava!” Felicity said while Oliver did a slow-clap. They settled down, turning on the TV, and she sunk into the couch cushion with her legs crossed, her knee pressing against Oliver’s thigh. As the evening wore on, and the wine buzz wore off, she became increasingly aware of each time his hand brushed her knee, and she thought of what Heather had said about their energies. For a split second, she let herself think about her mouth against his and his arm around her waist, but then he looked over at her, and when he asked her what she was thinking, she said, “Nothing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you'd like more!


End file.
